A last ride ended in death, 5-month mystery
On March 5 an eerie post appeared on Christian MooreRouse’s Facebook page.
“His close friends warned him in no uncertain terms to stay away from that weirdo Adam Rosenberg,” the post said, “but Christian being Christian thought it was Okay [sic] to be his friend.”
Just two days earlier, Mr. Moore-Rouse’s decomposing body had been found on a Fox Chapel hillside. He had been missing since before Christmas. Mr. Rosenberg sat in a jail cell, charged with killing Jeremy Dentel, a 28-year-old Baldwin Borough resident, after the two connected through a dating app.
Mr. Moore-Rouse’s sister had accessed his Facebook page to share her brother’s and her suspicions about his death. For months she and the rest of their family awaited word on whether Mr. Rosenberg — or anyone — would be charged with her brother’s killing. They and Mr. Moore-Rouse’s friends grew frustrated with the pace and direction of the police investigation.
On Tuesday, their wait ended. Allegheny County police charged Mr. Rosenberg with homicide, abuse of a corpse, robbery and tampering with evidence in Mr. Moore-Rouse’s death.
Detectives accused Mr. Rosenberg of luring Mr. RouseMoore to his Fox Chapel house on a pretense, sending an Uber for him and then shooting him in the back of his head. Police said Mr. Rosenberg dragged the body down his driveway and into a ditch, where he left it to molder throughout the winter.
Investigators executing a search warrant discovered Mr. Moore-Rouse’s remains on a wooded plot of largely inaccessible land in Fox Chapel across
from Mr. Rosenberg’s home on Settlers Ridge Road. The 22-year-old’s body was in such bad shape, said Randall McKinney, a lawyer for the Rouse family, the remains had to be cremated.
The parcel, smaller than an acre, is owned by the Fox Chapel Area Land Trust. The only way to get to it is to traverse private property. Only a handful of property owners have land abutting the site, with one of them being the Rosenberg family, proprietors of a small but venerable regional grocery store chain called Community Super Market.
“The remains were not buried, but it would have been not the easiest thing to see,” Fox Chapel police Chief David Laux said in March. “You would have had to have known exactly where to look and even then it would have been hard to see. We were acting on information pursuant to the investigation.”
In the charging documents, police said an unnamed person identified as Witness #3 told them Feb. 19 — the day Mr. Rosenberg was charged in Mr. Dentel’s death — that there might be a body in the woods near Mr. Rosenberg’s house.
“Witness #3 heard Rosenberg make numerous comments about ‘catching a body’ and referenced killing someone and putting their body in the woods by his [Rosenberg’s] house,” the complaint said. “Witness #3 could not recall the person’s name in the interview, but Rosenberg referred to him as someone who ripped [Rosenberg] off a while back.”
As the interview wrapped up, police told the witness Mr. Rosenberg had been charged with killing Mr. Dentel. The witness “suggested that police check around Rosenberg’s house because everything [Rosenberg] said ‘might be true.’ ”
‘Crazy A’
A week later, Mr. Moore Rouse’s mother gave police access to her son’s cell phone and texts between him and someone named “Crazy A.” The texts took place on the day Mr. Moore-Rouse disappeared and dealt with how Mr. Moore-Rouse got to Fox Chapel — by an Uber called by the accused killer.
Although the official police account lists Mr. Moore Rouse’s last known whereabouts on Dec. 21 at the Penn Hills Dollar Tree store on Rodi Road where he worked — he was scheduled for an 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift that day but started and left late, according to Allegheny County Police Superintendent Coleman McDonough — his friend Allan Littlejohn Jr. said they did a video chat with each other as Mr. Moore-Rouse got into a car on Spruce Street in Verona, where his stepfather lived.
It was an Uber, according to Mr. Littlejohn.
Mr. McKinney, attorney for Mr. Moore-Rouse’s family, said Mr. Rosenberg had invited the victim to smoke marijuana together.
“[Mr. Moore-Rouse’s mother] has text messages between Christian and Rosenberg on the day in question,” Mr. McKinney said, “and that is the nature of the conversation — there’s an overture by Rosenberg to Christian to come smoke marijuana.”
There were other overtures, according to Mr. McKinney. T. Lee Rouse, Mr. Moore-Rouse’s mother, said she confronted Mr. Rosenberg by phone on Dec. 28, a week after her son vanished, about what she called “gay advances.” He told her he joked that way with straight men, she said.
But that wasn’t what troubled her most about Mr. Rosenberg, a 21-year-old product of Fox Chapel prone to erratic outbursts and who suffered, according to a police report, from bipolar disorder. At some point he uttered something about killing his own parents, according to Mr. Littlejohn.
“The name Adam, his phone, and address were given to Verona and ... Allegheny County police as soon as we got it along with a disturbing statement Adam made,” according to a written account by Ms. Rouse of her search efforts.
The criminal complaint refers to Witness #1, a friend of Mr. Moore-Rouse’s, who had misgivings about Mr. Rosenberg.
“Witness #1 said that Rosenberg was very weird and often going on about ‘serial killer stuff’ and always making comments about wanting to have sex with Christian. This prompted Witness #1 to distance himself/herself from Rosenberg, but Christian continued to spend time with Rosenberg. Witness #1 stated that Rosenberg would give Christian drugs and money and would often send ride shares such as Uber or Lyft to bring Christian to Rosenberg’s house,” the complaint said.
During one phone call between Mr. Rosenberg and his alleged victim, “Christian put the call on speaker phone for Witness #1 to hear. In that call, Rosenberg was heard asking Christian to kill his parents for him. Christian said he would not do that. Witness #1 stated that as soon as Christian went missing, he/she suspected that Rosenberg was involved,” the complaint said.
One of Mr. Rosenberg’s attorneys, Casey White, addressed the comments about Mr. Rosenberg’s parents.
“Mr. Adam Rosenberg loves both of his parents and is appreciative of their continued support through this difficult time,” Mr. White said in March. “Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg stand behind their son and the entire extended Rosenberg family remains close knit and united.”
Whatever Mr. Rosenberg said, the allure of marijuana would have been a powerful draw for Mr. Moore-Rouse.
But there was far more to Mr. Moore-Rouse than his penchant for marijuana, his family and friends said. He volunteered at Mulberry Community Church, Jubilee Soup Kitchen and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Mr. MooreRouse grew up in Shadyside, graduating from Allderdice High School.
Acquaintances
Mr. Moore-Rouse, Mr. Littlejohn and Mr. Rosenberg became acquainted through the Community College of Allegheny County, where they all attended at one time.
In the week leading up to his disappearance, Mr. Moore-Rouse stayed in a place in Pittsburgh shared by Mr. Littlejohn and his roommate, Ray McCarthy.
By Friday, Dec. 20, he was ready to leave. The next day, according to his family, he visited his stepfather, Lloyd Oliver, at his home on Spruce Street in Verona. And then he got into the Uber — and disappeared.
On Dec. 22, his mother tried to reach him, but the call went straight to voicemail. When Mr. Moore -Rouse didn’t show up to meet her as planned the next day, she grew worried. She talked to Mr. Littlejohn, who told her that her son got into a car with a white man. When Mr. Moore-Rouse didn’t show up for Christmas, Mr. Oliver went to the Verona police station on Christmas Day and talked to Chief Ron McLemore.
Despite Mr. MooreRouse’s marijuana habit, Chief McLemore said he did not believe the missing man had overdosed on anything. There were no signs that he was spending money. And Mr. Moore-Rouse was an adult, the chief noted, fully within his rights to stay away from his family.
Nevertheless, Chief McLemore said he entered Mr. Moore-Rouse’s details into the database maintained by the National Crime Information Center, an electronic clearinghouse open to all law enforcement agencies. He said he distributed pictures of Mr. MooreRouse to his handful of officers and watched as missing signs sprouted on utility poles in the borough, put up by family members.
The chief said Mr. MooreRouse’s mother did not mention anyone named Adam — something Ms. Rouse disputes.
But Chief McLemore confirmed she did mention a friend of her son’s named Allan — likely Mr. Littlejohn. The chief spoke with Allan and said he didn’t say the name “Adam” either. But, the chief said, Allan did say Mr. Moore-Rouse had told him during their video call, “I’m getting ready to get in a car with a white guy.”
Detectives tracked down the Uber, a dark red Ford CMax, and its driver, who dropped Mr. Moore-Rouse off on Settlers Ridge Road at 7:20 p.m. on Dec. 21. The driver told police that another man came down the driveway to meet his passenger.
‘Something’s got to be up’
Meanwhile Ms. Rouse had started digging. She put together a list of her son’s white friends, assuming the driver was one of them. She checked various Snapchat accounts. She called people he knew.
By Jan. 4, Ms. Rouse was running out of patience. She showed up at the Verona police station with Mr. Oliver. It was then that the chief realized there was a serious problem.
“I’m thinking, ‘Jesus, nobody’s heard from this kid, something’s got to be up,’” the chief recalled.
On Jan. 6, Chief McLemore called in the Allegheny County Police Department, which has vastly greater resources than his small force, and Pittsburgh police, because Mr. Littlejohn lived in the city.
Investigators acknowledged that in early January — it is not clear what date — they were made aware of a friend of Mr. Moore-Rouse’s named Adam and were given his phone number. County police insist, however, they were not provided with his last name or with any suspicions among friends and family that Mr. Rosenberg might have something to do with the disappearance.
In January, Mr. McCarthy said his roommate told him, “I think Adam killed Christian.” Mr. McCarthy asked, “Why do you say that?’”
“Christian was supposed to help Adam kill his parents,” Mr. McCarthy said his roommate responded.
On Jan. 7, Ms. Rouse said, she had a long talk with a county homicide detective.
“Check out Adam,” she said she told him.
County police did not respond Tuesday evening to questions.
Chilling details
Two weeks before Mr. Moore-Rouse was found, police charged Mr. Rosenberg with killing Jeremy Dentel. According to police, the two men met online and arranged to get together at Mr. Dentel’s house. Video surveillance shows Mr. Rosenberg entering the house Feb. 15 and then leaving less than a minute later, police said. In that brief space, according to a criminal complaint, Mr. Rosenberg shot Mr. Dentel in the head.
On March 13, Mr. Rosenberg was held for trial in Mr. Dentel’s death. There was no mention of the Moore-Rouse case during the hearing.
On May 7, police met once again with Witness #3.
“Witness #3 told detectives that Rosenberg told him/her about a person named Christian that ‘set him up to be robbed.’ Rosenberg indicated that he was going to do ‘something’ to Christian for setting him up,” the complaint said, “but then told Witness #3 he was ‘just kidding.’ ”
Mr. Rosenberg told the witness about the Uber ride, according to the complaint. The final moments of Mr. Moore-Rouse’s life are described in chilling detail.
“Rosenberg told Witness #3 that once Christian got out of the Uber, Rosenberg and Christian talked and walked away from the Uber, with Christian walking in front of Rosenberg. Rosenberg told Witness #3 that he pretended to be on his phone until the Uber driver turned around and disappeared down the road. Rosenberg said that once the Uber driver was gone, he shot Christian in the back of the head.
“Rosenberg told Witness #3 that he dragged the body down the driveway, left it in a ditch and just ‘left it there.’ Rosenberg disclosed that he did a ‘bad job’ because he did not cover the body and someone would be able to see it. Rosenberg told Witness #3 that he took Christian’s cell phone and backpack.
“Witness #3 stated that when Rosenberg told him/ her this, he/she did not believe him.”